Turner man’s missing horse recovered

Sheriff says horse probably not stolen

TURNER — Grizzly, a ten-year old Quarter horse from Turner, had been missing for a little over a week when his owner Tim Kinney, was awakened by his brother, Greg Kinney, early Friday morning after Greg was contacted by an employee of Dore’s Party Store, Standish, who had seen the horse grazing near the Richland Township Cemetery.

“There wasn’t a house around; it (horse) was right in a grass field right by the cemetery,” Tim said. “No fence or nothing there.

“It’s probably only about four or five miles from where I live.”

The horse was missing since June 11, according to Greg, and the brothers suspected the horse had been stolen.

“They (thief/thieves) went to the end of the road and cut the fence” of the horse pen, Greg said.

Arenac County Sheriff James Mosciski, however, says the horse may not have been taken out of its pen, since the police report reads that the fence was knocked down, not cut.

Tim says the day after the incident, a family search party traced the act, as hoof prints from the horse and footprints from the alleged perpetrator were spotted and followed. He says the prints led to tire tracks in a spot where a neighbor told Tim that he saw a parked silver truck towing a horse trailer after midnight on the morning of June 11.

“We spent all day looking for that horse,” Greg said.

“My nephews followed them (hoof prints, footprints) across four plowed fields,” Tim added.

The horse’s owners says he received a lead on its location prior to actually finding it, but that tip turned out to be incorrect. He says the Twining horse didn't resemble his horse.

Tim also owns another horse and says its behavior and mannerisms changed in Grizzly’s absence.

“He’s kind of bummed out, I guess you could say,” he said in an interview prior to finding the missing horse. “He looks down where that happened (fence damaged) and lets out a holler.”

Tim says he’s spent about $800 – $900 on Grizzly, who he has owned for less than a year, after a cousin’s sister-in-law gave it to him.